International Construction's M&T Expo preview

M&T Expo is the largest construction equipment exhibition in Latin America and is held every three years at the Centro De Exposções Imigrantes in Sâo Paulo, Brazil. This year's event will take place from 29 May to 2 June, and has been sold-out for many months with 480 exhibitors due to take part.

The organisers expect around 45000 visitors to attend M&T Expo this year. The bulk of these will of course come from Brazil and other countries in the region, but the growing stature of Latin America means there are likely to be visitors from all over the world at the show.

Indeed, the size and buoyancy of the Latin American market, not least thanks to Brazil, means M&T Expo promises to be a busy exhibition, with plenty of visitors and lots of new equipment being launched. In many cases, new machines will be unveiled at the event itself, but lots of exhibitors have given an indication of some of the new machines that will be on show.

Volvo Construction Equipment display its B series backhoe loaders, F-Series articulated dump trucks (ADTs) and G-series wheeled loaders at M&T Expo, and for many exhibitors it will be the first time these machines have been seen.

The F series trucks range from 24 tonnes to 39 tonnes capacity. Volvo says they offer 5% more power than its previous range, while burning between 6% and 8% less fuel. The company has also made other improvements to their design, styling and serviceability.

New wheeled loaders on show will include the L150G, L180G and L220G, which offer up to 20% more lifting capacity and 10% more breakout force.

Case is increasing its presence in Latin America, as witnessed by the range of machines it now has available in the region. It now offers six product families in Latin America including light equipment like skid steer loaders and mini excavators, up to large excavators and wheeled loaders.

"Brazil is growing fast and Case Construction also gaining new customers and differentiated segments. We are known in the market for our backhoe loaders, but now we also have a full line of products," said the CEO of Case Construction for Latin America, Roque Reis.

LBX do Brasil, a subsidiary of Japan's Sumitomo will use the show to present its range of Link-Belt excavators. It will be the first time the company has attended M&T Expo, and it plans to make an impact, with five excavators from 13 to 35 tonnes on show, namely the 130 X2, 160 X2, 210 X2, 350 X2 (with bucket) and 350 X2 (equipped with a hydraulic breaker).

Meanwhile, the company's indoor stand will feature a 210X2EX excavator.

Yanmar plans to exhibit a full range of mini excavators at the show, and the company says it will also have generators on display. The company is one of the longer-standing overseas players in the market, with Yanmar South America being founded some 55 years ago.

Manitou's display will include 2012, 2044 and 1750RT Mustang-branded skid steer loaders, Gehl loaders and telehandlers. Machines in the eye-catching Manitou red livery will include the MT 625, MT 10055, MRT 2540 and MT-X 1740 telehandlers, along with the 200 ATJ road M30 access platforms.

Road building

Atlas Copco, which has a factory in Brazil, will take a 450 m2 indoor stand. On show from its road building equipment subsidiary Dynapac will be the 21 tonne CT3000 padfoot roller, along with 19 tonne CA6000 soil compactor, which features a new, sleek design than can be seen throughout the CA range.

Both the new machines are fitted with low emission Tier III engines, which the company says also offer lower fuel consumption as well as cutting pollution. Also on show will be compactors from the company's Brazilian factory, including the CT3000, CA250, CP274 and CC424HF. As well as being sold locally, the CT3000 and CP274 pneumatic tyred roller are exported throughout the world.

Meanwhile Bomag will show a range of single-drum and tandem rollers, including the BW 177, BW 212, BW90, BW 138 and BW 161, along with the 25 RH pneumatic tyred roller and BF600C paver.

Astec has a new joint venture in Brazil with Manufatura E Desenvolvimento de Equipamentos Ltda (MDE), and the two companies are currently building a production facility in Minas Gerais to make tracked mobile crushers from Astec's KPI-JCI range as well as Telsmith jaw and cone crushers. The plant is due to be up and running by the end of this year, so the timing of M&T Expo is useful for the two companies.

At the show Astec do Brasil will be showing a range of products from its aggregates & mining group, which are sold under Telsmith, KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens, Breaker Technology Inc. (BTI) and Osborn Engineered Products brands.

Powerscreen will use the exhibition to introduce its compact XH250 impact crusher to the market, which will be on show alongside a Warrior 1800 screen.

The XH250 horizontal shaft impact (HSI) crusher is a tracked unit designed for small and medium-sized recycling and demolition applications. Capable of processing a wide variety of materials with a high output, the machine is versatile, user-friendly and energy efficient thanks to its direct drive system.

The Warrior 1800 meanwhile is a high-capacity mobile screen, able to sift and separate a wide variety of materials in the toughest applications. But despite its high performance, it offers a low ground pressure and is highly mobile. It is also flexible, and can use a wide variety of screening media to give a throughput as high as 500 tonnes per hour.

The Powerscreen machines will be on display on parent company Terex's booth.

Sandvik's stand will feature its new QJ241 tracked jaw crusher as well as the DX680 drill rig, alongside breakers and drilling tools.

Lifting

Link-Belt, in conjunction with its new distributor for Brazil, Brasil Máquinas de Construção (BMC), will show its 50 tonne capacity 108 HYLAB 5 boom crawler crane, 60 tonne RTC-8065 Series II rough terrain crane and the 85 tonne HTT-86100 truck crane.

The 108 HYLAB 5 is a highly mobile machine with smooth hydraulic controls and attachment flexibility for duty cycle work. It has a 33.5 m main boom and 15.2 m jib, offering a maximum tip height of just under 50 m.

The RTC-8065 Series II features a four-section 35 m boom with an optional 10.7 to 17.7 m bi-folding fly attachment for a maximum tip height of 54.9 m. The HTT-86100 meanwhile features a 42.7 m, five-section boom, while lattice inserts can be added fro a 72.2 m tip height.

Sany do Brasil will exhibit a range of equipment including excavators, rollers, graders and concrete pumps. Among the larger machines will be a new 43 m reach truck-mounted concrete placing boom, while its crane offering will include a 55 tonne capacity rough terrain unit.

A key feature of the crane is its fast boom speed - it can be fully extended or retracted in two minutes and the line speed is 150 m/minute. Maximum travel speed is 40 km/hour. Also on show from the company's crane portfolio will be a 220 tonne all-terrain crane, along with 60 and 75 tonne capacity truck cranes.

JLG's new machines at the show will include the 3248RS electric scissor lift, which has a working height of 32 feet (9.8 m) and a capacity of 705 lbs (320 kg) and will be available in the region from the second half of 2012. Also display the 2630ES and 4069LE scissor lifts.

Also on show will be a vertical mast platforms and 1500SJ telescopic boom lift and the 340AJ telescopic boom.

Other powered access manufacturers taking part in M&T Expo will include Italy's Bravi Platforms and France's Haulotte.

Also in the sector, rental company Solaris will have a booth at the show, which it will use to illustrate some of the machines available from its 14 outlets throughout Brazil. As well as access platforms up to 43 m working height, the company offers generators, compressors, lighting towers and earthmoving equipment.